We are contemplating a cross country move. My husband thinks that we should ship both cars and fly to the new location. I think that it's a great opportunity for a road trip to see part of the country we've never seen. I will have my daughters' (ages 10 and 13) and maybe a small dog. Am I crazy to drive across the country? We have a good car and I like to drive. My husband would already be living in the destination city and we'd probably ship his car. I'd be on my own with my daughters'. We'd probably be going from california to the East Coast.
My vote is for the road trip!! Something I wish for someday:)
Have fun ,and with out dad in the car you'll be able to stop as much as you want!
A lot of my military friends have gotten orders from the East Coast to Cali in the past few years and they have all drove cross county so they can enjoy the sights and spend some quality family time in the car!
I think ages 10 & 13 are old enough for a cross country road trip. How fun!! I'm with you! Maybe your husband is worried about your safety while you're on the road? I'm really independent and would totally go for it!
I agree whole heartedly with Toni V and Denise B.
I was brought up in a military family and we went cross country several times when Uncle Sam gave my dad orders to a new assignment. We always drove by car. Its easier to go without the dogs, but it was so fun for us kids.
I've driven cross country with my kids on trips and vacations and moves. They talk about the fun we had when we stopped here and there along the way. We went with a dog when we moved and without when we were on vacation. We had a wonderful time as a family.
My kids go on vacation and may drive two to three thousand miles before getting back home. My son is in the military and he drove out to California from Nebraska and they saw all kinds of things including the old growth redwood forests north of San Francisco. (Those huge trees are fantastic. A real WOW ! ! ! experience.)
My suggestion would be to ship the dogs with your husband and go with the kids unless you and your husband have the time to go together. If you take the dogs have a travel kennel for both or each one, depending on how big the dogs are. We used to leave our dogs in the car when we went in to eat, but there are too many busybodies now and so you can't do that any more. (Yes the windows were always open so it never got too hot!)
Good luck to you and yours. I hope you have lots of fun.
Do it do it do it! When I was still in college, my friend and I drove from L.A. to Philly over the course of five days. It was lots of fun, and it was so great to see other parts of the country! I'm sure your kids will be fine. Maybe fly the dog out with your husband. Not only will it be hard to eat, shop, and sight-see, but it will limit your hotel options too.
As the moving van is filled they can either put the car in the front of it then pack stuff around it or they can tow it. I
I would drive. It may be a long time, or never, to spend time with the kids. It will be time to visit and make memories.
Since you are in CA I assume you are moving East....lol. I guess you could be moving to Washington or Oregon though.
I would go to the library and check out some books on the states you will be traveling through then make a trip tick yourself.
When we went on vacation to Montana I planned the whole trip to take in tons of places, museums, sights, etc...I wanted to see so much. The trip was the vacation. Visiting my friends in Shepherd was of course the most fun but seeing the things I had learned about and got excited about seeing was pretty incredible too.
Just a thought too:
Unless you have excess money to spend on sightseeing don't plan on going in places like Mount Rushmore. Watch the history channels or check out some video's of the building of it. They can be as informative as the tour guides can be and you can see the whole thing from your car. There are lots of things like this that you can park and see without paying exorbitant fees to get just a little closer.
We enjoyed so many museums and fun places to go on our trip. Take some time and enjoy this special time. Once you get moved and settled your girls will make new friends and be off doing things with them and you may not have this opportunity to bond with them. They will remember this time forever too. Let them pick some things to do too.
Take a week, or more, and see some of our glorious country. Take some detours. See things you may never come back to see. Visit some caves, climb some rock walls, ride a river in a raft or canoe, walk across a bridge hundreds of feet above the ground, see the wonders we have.
Road trip!! What an amazing, memorable, life experience. You and your girls will remember this forever.
Well, the dog would be the one I worry about. When I moved across country, I had to eat fast and get back to the car because it was hot.
Can he take her? Can you fly the dog for $175?
I have done two trips that my son, who is now an adult, remembers fondly and will remember forever....both with one of our beloved dogs. First when he was 11, we had the opportunity to spend a few months in Europe (Switzerland, Italy and France). I won't say travelling to another country with a dog and a little boy (and a duffle bag full of his toys) did not have its challenges, but once we arrived, we saw so much by travelling by car from Zurich to Paris.
Then when he graduated from high school, he got a summer job teaching tennis at a camp for boys in Maine. I bought a camper for our little truck and we had AAA map out a trip plan (to see all the wonderful US sites) along the way and set out.....again, we took one of our Labrador retrievers (which was my company and protection on the way home). We saw so many beautiful places (Yellow Stone, Mormon Tabernacle, Mt. Rushmore, American Farmlands, Amish Country, Philadelphia, the New England States, etc., and I traveled a different route on the way home...it was WONDERFUL.
Travelling alone with children (man or woman), I recommend travelling ONLY by day. We either stayed in family campgrounds, hotels or with friends and it is easy to plan your time so a few hours before nightfall; you are done driving for the day. We had a casual schedule, so sometimes we would start driving in the AM around 6 AM or 10 AM in order to miss commute traffic during the week.
We ate picnic style (with our cooler full of good things), fast food, with friends and sometimes REALLY fancy food, especially when we were in a city whose claim to fame was this or that!
America is a beautiful place to see and I am proud to say my son, one of our dogs, and I have seen almost every state in the union and mostly by car....even Hawaii. I highly recommend a family road trip....and I highly recommend SAFTEY first when travelling.
Let us hear from you....Blessings....
Where ya going? Shoot we've driven from Texas to California and back a couple times now. Ya get to stop at the Grand Canyon if you want!
I say drive both cars. You'll likely break even or go cheaper, even with the cost of gas. Flying 4 people can't be cheap. We spent $600 round trip from Texas to CA last year. (Diesel fuel - pricier) Much cheaper than 3 round-trip tickets at the last minute. And like you said - "Road Trip!" Make the best of it!
It kinda sucks to be in two cars though. That's my only bump. What about shipping one car and driving the other. Or can one car pull the other?
I love a road trip! It will be a great experience for you and your daughters. I say drive!
Good luck with the move. Hope you're happy on the East Coast. The weather is going to take some getting used to I imagine!
I drove from CA to NC in the summer of 2010 with my two daughters ages 11 & 13 and a friend. We were deliverying a car to my son stationed in NC. It was the best trip of my life! We went the northern route going through 12 states in 12 days. WE saw so many amazing sites-national parks & off the beatern path places. I was concerned about the amount of seat time in the car for the girls-not a very big back seat-but they've spoken only with fondness about the trip. WE are thinking about making another trip this summer to see my grandson who is due July 23. This time we'd take the southern route. I'd go for it if I were you. To name a few of the sites we saw: Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Jackson Wyoming, The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Devil's Tower, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Jewel Cave National Park, Wall Drug, The Badlands National Park, A prairie Homestead, The Gateway Arch in St. Louis(we went up into it),Memphis TN the Civil Rights Museum, Graceland, Nashville TN-Country Music Hall of Fame, THe Great Smokey Mountains, Ashville, NC, and finally the Atlantic Ocean at Topsail Island, NC. I can only tell you these details because the journal we wrote in is sitting in front of me right now. GO FOR IT!! If you'd like to contact me-please do. I'd be happy to tell you more.
Wonderful experience. Pick your route and plan a few well placed detours to visit some of the uniqueness we have to enjoy across the country! Made this trip several times with my children and as adults they have shared the same trip with their children, laughing all the way or revisiting places we shared as a family.
If you can book destination hotels in advance it will help make the trip much more enjoyable and provide a set of planned stops so the drive doesn't go on forever.
Hope your DH can join you for this trip too. If not, make it a 'girls' only trip. Your DDs will appreciate the time and soon enough they will have their own lives.
Best luck!
Sounds like fun. I have not done the trip with kids, but have done a three week cross country trip to see the sights and camp and loved it. I have also driven cross country twice for moves with three cats, one dog and lots of live fish. Everyone did fine. We have one cat that we know gets carsick in under five minutes sober tested and found the perfect meds for him, but the others just road along. Everyonw in crates to make sure no one could jump out when we were stopped. If you so it make sure your dog has on tags with all contact info and if he is microchipped make sure the info is correct. Have fun if you drive
Personally, it depends on your travel companions - and it would probably be cheaper in the end to have both shipped and just fly out.
Don't do it! and the dog will get car sick so I am with everyone else on that.
Ages 10 and 13 sound like great ages for a road trip of that magnitude!!!! We live in the Bay Area right now (4.5 years so far), and while we love it out here, our families are in Ohio, and we know that we'll eventually be moving back (providing a job opportunity arrises). I've been telling my husband since we moved here that I'll be driving back East when we do finally move back, as it's a once in a lifetime chance to see a lot of the country you can't see unless you do a road trip. My biggest challenge would be: do I drive north through Montana, etc, or drive south, so we could see the Grand Canyon? LOL
We've done 3 HUGE moves (OH-FL, FL-DE, DE-CA), and shipped our vehicle the last 2 moves (we drove OH-FL). You have to weigh the cost of shipping the vehicle vs food, hotel, gas, and car wear and tear for the 5-8 days it would take you. I say drive :)
I say do it! It's an opportunity you might not ever get again. Oh and there are many, many places that are pet friendly. We always take our dogs with us on trips.
